What Is Freudian Psychology?

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Theodor Meynert was a leader in viewing psychiatry research as a form of brain science.

In 1883, Freud joined Meynert's clinic, leaving in 1885 to study under Charcot in Paris.

Freud's ideas about hypnosis and 'male hysteria' offended Meynert, leading to a break healed on his deathbed.

Freud is best known, of course, for the creation of psychoanalysis as a treatment for mental illness, though later he began to emphasize its utility as a method for enhancing self-knowledge. Interestingly, in his early years, his clinical interests were actually in internal medicine; in this post, we will describe the influence of Theodor Meynert, who guided his first major exposure to clinical psychiatry. As we will see, the two later had a falling out, which continued for some years, until it was resolved on Meynert’s deathbed.

After graduating from medical school, Freud began to work in a neuropathology laboratory. His research flourished, though he had little income, and by 1882 he was in financial straits. He cast about for a new career; at first he applied to training programs in internal medicine, but was not accepted. He ultimately followed the advice of his former teacher and mentor, Wilhelm von Brücke, and took a position as a physician in Vienna’s General Hospital. After assignments in a number of areas, including surgery and dermatology, in April 1883, he began working in Theodor Meynert’s psychiatric clinic.

Meynert, one of the best-known European psychiatrists of the late 19th century, was a strong believer that the study of psychiatry should be considered a form of brain science, and advocated associating various psychiatric symptoms with deficits in specific anatomical areas of the brain. Freud became involved in the........

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